Lexi Branson
Alexia "Lexi" Branson was a vampire and was also Stefan Salvatore's best friend and companion. She had known Stefan and his brother Damon for over a century. Damon killed her to make the Town Council think that she was the vampire terrorizing Mystic Falls. She was 350 years old, placing her birth date around 1659 and her turning year in 1680. Lexi met Elena Gilbert briefly before she died and gave her some relationship advice, encouraging her to give Stefan a chance. Elena thought of Lexi as a friend after they talked, realizing how much she cared about Stefan. She came back as a ghost in Ghost World to help Stefan, who had turned off his humanity and returned to his ripper behavior. Also, she was one of the ghosts who appeared in Mystic Falls when Bonnie dropped the veil in The Walking Dead and Graduation. In Season Five, she returns in Home, and saves Stefan from going into the oblivion, but she manages to find peace and disappears. She has been shown to always be watching over Stefan. History Early life Although not much is known about her, Lexi was born around 1659 and became a vampire at the age of 21 under unknown circumstances. According to Stefan's Diaries, Lexi had a younger brother and she had been taking care of him since their parents died. One day, Lexi was changed into a vampire by a man she met who asked her if she wanted to live forever so she could take care of her brother. So she became a vampire, and eventually her brother was killed when villagers who were suspicious since Lexi never grew older. They set her cottage on fire, trying to kill Lexi but she escaped. Her brother, however, didn't; he was only 16 years old. 1864 In 1864, Lexi arrived in Mystic Falls and met a newly turned vampire named Stefan Salvatore, who tried to attack her, not realizing that she was also a vampire. After discovering that Stefan was a ripper, Lexi took it upon herself to help Stefan recover his humanity and keep his addiction in check, and they became close friends. Lexi was good friends with a woman named Callie Gallagher during that time period. 1922-1935 Lexi found Stefan again in April of 1922, again he was off the rails terrorizing and killing innocent people. She got him on the mend, spending over a decade rehabilitating him before he was finally off of human blood around 1935. They maintained their friendship and would spend his birthday together every year, once attending a Bon Jovi concert. At that particular concert, unbeknownst to either of them, Katherine Pierce observed them from afar. Lexi had never met Katherine, though what she knew about her through Stefan, made her take a strong dislike to the older Doppelgänger. 1942 In We'll Always Have Bourbon Street, a flashback to 1942 reveals Lexi was in New Orleans with Stefan. She knew that Damon was also in New Orleans, and told Stefan that it was time for him to make peace with his brother. After rekindling his relationship with his brother, Damon announced his intention to go to war with Stefan, but Lexi talked him out of it. She argued that once Stefan found out that Damon had murdered twelve innocent people without guilt or remorse, Stefan would turn to Damon for guidance about how to live that way. Lexi reminded him how badly it ended for Stefan the last time he listened to Damon in 1912. Damon reluctantly agreed and walked away from Stefan and the war. 1977 Lexi tracks down Damon because his reckless behavior was getting him noticed. She told Damon that she had come to find him because she and Stefan had heard about his reckless murders as far away as Mystic Falls, and Stefan was worried about him. Damon wanted none of her help, but Lexi was persistent and refused to back down. Over the course of six months, Damon played into Lexi's mission by partying with her and permitting her to try to rehabilitate him from his profligate ways. Eventually he fooled her into thinking that her plan had worked, that he had finally flipped his humanity switch back on because of his feelings for her. Lexi, having grown fond of Damon, believed him, and they proceeded to have a night of wild sex. The next morning, asleep on the roof, Lexi awoke when the sun started to burn her skin. Panicked, she ran to the door to get inside but it was locked and wouldn't open. Damon then revealed that he had played a cruel joke on her, reinforcing the locked door, and paying her back for annoying him for the past six months. Damon abandoned her on the roof, leaving her stranded in the tiny shadow of the locked doorway. Throughout the series |-|Season One= Lexi comes to Mystic Falls for Stefan's 162nd birthday. She mentions that she visits Stefan on his birthday every year, including once in 1987 during a Bon Jovi concert. She is shocked to meet Elena, who looks exactly like Katherine (whom Lexi, even though having never met, hated for what she did to Stefan). She first confuses the two, but after Stefan explains the situation, she becomes very supportive of the relationship. Damon convinces both Lexi and Stefan to come to the Mystic Grill where Caroline's is holding a party. They play pool there, dance and enjoy the night. Lexi tells Elena about her experience with her human boyfriend. She later starts talking to Damon and wanted to know what he was planning but he wouldn't tell her - because he was framing her. Earlier, Damon had attacked a girl and he compelled her to say that Lexi attacked her boyfriend. Sheriff Forbes had blocked the exit to make sure no one could leave. The girl points to Damon who is standing next to Lexi, Forbes assumes that the girl was picking out Lexi and injects her with vervain before several cops carry her outside. Lexi throws the cops to the side and goes after the sheriff, but Damon stakes her before she can get to Sheriff Forbes . She asked why he'd kill her and he said "part of the plan" and she died. In Bloodlines, Damon comes to visit Bree at her bar. Bree wanted revenge for her death because it turns out that Lexi was her friend. Lexi's boyfriend Lee, (whom she had turned), was about to kill Damon and light him on fire, but Elena stops him at the last minute. She convinces him that Lexi would not have approved of it. |-|Season Two= Lexi is mentioned in four episodes in the second season: Masquerade, Rose, Katerina, and The Dinner Party making a total of four episodes that Lexi is mentioned in. In Masquerade, she is mentioned by Katherine that says she saw Lexi and Stefan at a Bon Jovi concert. In Rose, Rose says that she was a friend of Lexi's. In Katerina, Stefan tells Caroline that she reminded him of Lexi. In The Dinner Party, Stefan tells Elena how he met Lexi, and how she helped him with his ripper problem back in 1864 and how she saved him from the edge for the first time. |-|Season Three= She is mentioned in The End of The Affair, in Stefan's diary, revealing that she was the one who got Stefan to kick his addiction for human blood around 1935. She officially appears in Ghost World where, after one of Bonnie's spells go wrong, she can be seen and act freely. She imprisons Stefan and shows Elena how to take care of him. When Bonnie destroys the necklace, Lexi had to leave, but Elena promised her that she would help Stefan. She wants more time to help Stefan but Elena assures her that its okay and that she can find peace now. Lexi departs, now finally having found peace after holding on and worrying about Stefan. She also assures Elena that the Stefan whom Elena knew, was still inside and that she just needed to draw him out and get through to him. It can be theorized that perhaps Stefan and Lexi shared an even closer bond than the one he and Elena share. Lexi was his first vampire friend and she continually saved his life and looked out for him. Her devotion to him was strong enough that she could sense he had "gone off the rails" again and came back as a ghost to protect and save him. Stefan resisted her attempts to fix him to the best of his ability but she was able to get inside his mind and somehow make him think he had gone without blood for a certain period of time that had soon turned into years. She also used physical torture to try to bring him back and was able to gain some kind of success before she had to leave. |-|Season Four= In The Walking Dead, after Silas is defeated, Lexi surprises Stefan at the Mystic Grill. Before Bonnie raises the veil to the other side, Stefan and Lexi walk down the street together talking about missing each other. Lexi comments that he's found another blonde to watch out for him and comments that she's cute. In Graduation, ''Lexi and Stefan are dancing to a Bon Jovi song and drinking. They are having fun and Damon comes in and turns the music off. Lexi grabs Damon's throat and tells him she is spending her time with Stefan and not wasting it on Damon. Lexi enjoys her time with Stefan and tells Alaric her theory of how the Other Side is time to reflect on all bad choices they made during their supernatural life and how she thinks they'll move on from it after some time. She also talks to Stefan about moving on and how he will find someone else than Elena. When the veil is restored, Lexi disappears, leaving Stefan alone. |-|Season Five= In ''Home, Stefan was almost taken away by the darkness destroying The Other Side, but was saved by Lexi. When the spell started, Stefan was resurrected, and then Bonnie told Lexi to pass through her. However, Markos appeared to try and pass through Bonnie, but Lexi fought him off until he got sucked in by the dark. Bonnie asked Lexi to pass through her, but she refused to pass through her as it was slowly killing her and said that she wouldn't be a best friend to Stefan if she passed through her and risk killing Bonnie if Damon doesn't manage to pass through her first. Lexi seemingly finally managed to find peace, and she disappeared. |-|Season Six= Lexi is mentioned by Alaric in Do You Remember the First Time? Personality Lexi has been around for over 300 years. She's learned a few things. One of them is to enjoy life and have fun. She is probably one of the most down to earth and "normal" vampires you will ever meet. She is comfortable being a vampire and has no problem socializing with humans. Even as a vampire, life is too short to spend on brooding and dwelling on the past. Live in the present is her philosophy. Relationships Lee Lee was Lexi's human lover, whom Lexi eventually turned into a vampire so they could be together forever. Lexi had mentioned him when she first met Elena, but didn't say his name. In Bloodlines, Lee tried to murder Damon in order to avenge Lexi's death, but Elena stopped him, telling him not to go down to Damon's level, because Lexi wouldn't want him to be like that. Lee was a close friend of Bree, who set him up to kill Damon. Stefan Salvatore In 1864, Lexi met young and new vampire Stefan Salvatore who tried to feed on her, unable to distinguish his kind from human. Discovering that Stefan was a ripper, meaning he could not control his bloodlust, losing his humanity, Lexi took it upon herself to help Stefan get back as much as possible of his humanity, generally by not turning his feelings off, succeeding eventually. Lexi found Stefan, now back to his ripper ways in April 1922 before getting him off human blood around 1935. In 1942, she encouraged him to seek Damon and make good with his brother, but convinced Damon it was a bad idea to ship with Stefan to the frontline. They would spend every birthday of his together, once attending a Bon Jovi concert, where they were, unbeknownst to them, watched by Stefan's ex, Katherine Pierce. She has also said in an episode that it's not that hard to fall in love with Stefan to Elena. Damon Salvatore Despite the immense love and support between her and Stefan, Lexi found Damon to be vastly irritating and only tolerated him because of Stefan. In 1942 she convinces Damon that is would not be a good idea to ship out with Stefan to the frontline, that Damon would be a bad influence to Stefan and he could slip into ripper mode again. In 162 Candles, Lexi visits Stefan for his birthday. That night while she is sleeping in one of the guest rooms Damon comes and surprises her. She is immediately irritated and tries to avoid him to no avail. Damon asks how long she will be in town and Lexi replies just for the duration of Stefan's birthday. Damon continues to annoy Lexi and asks her why she is so mean to him. Lexi replies it's because he himself is not a nice person. Damon explains he is the way he is because he is a vampire. Lexi shoots down his explanation by saying that he is only the bad parts of being a vampire. Damon jokingly asks her to teach him to be good. Lexi responds by violently pinning him to the bed in a powerful choke hold. She replies angrily that she is older and stronger than him and threatens Damon to not ruin her visit with Stefan because if he does she will hurt him. Damon quickly backtracks and says that he won't. Later on, in order to protect himself and Stefan, Damon reveals Lexi as a vampire, and kills her, shocking her. In Because the Night, during 1977 in NYC, Lexi told Damon that Stefan sent her and she would be sticking around. Damon and Lexi partied, drunk and fed together for roughly six months but every night Lexi would ask Damon about Katherine, trying to make him remember love as he did when he asked her to help Stefan in 1864. Damon mentioned he no longer loved Katherine and that had fallen for Lexi thus flipping his humanity switch on. Damon and Lexi ended up sleeping together. The next morning the sun came up and Lexi started to burn, she ran to the door but couldn't open it. Damon told her he rigged the door during the night so she couldn't get in then revealing he used her and didn't care about her. This was his payment for the past six months of Lexi's "help", then he runs off leaving her behind. Rose/Bree Rose told Elena, that a long time ago Lexi said Stefan was one of the good guys, and considered setting them up. However, Rose was more interested in the bad guys, as she said herself. This was proved true when she slept with Damon. Lexi was also a friend of Bree. She had a relationship with both her and Lee. After Lexi was killed by Damon, Lee and Bree planed on killing Damon as revenge. Physical Appearance Lexi is physically a very beautiful woman. She had long blonde hair (in the 19th century it was curly, in 1942 it was wavy and in the 21st century it was straight), she was tan and had hazel-green eyes. She was also tall and had a very curvy figure. Attitude Toward Humans She had a very generous nature to mortals and a regard for human life. As mentioned she did drink human blood, but strictly from blood bags in hospital blood banks. Unlike Stefan when he ingested human blood she was able to easily control her innate bloodlust without murdering humans. She didn't hunt them or regard them as her playthings, but as equals. Indeed, she was in love with a human male named Lee as much as Elena Gilbert was in love with Stefan. Lexi dissuaded Elena's worries about being romantically involved with a vampire including her slowly growing old with him being forever young. She turned Lee into a vampire with his consent and wish. The only time in her brief time in the series she looked like she was about to attack a human was in self-defense when Sheriff Forbes and two other deputies captured her with vervain and were taking her away to a quiet place to kill her. As outlined below Damon betrayed and killed her to maintain his cover and to put the Sheriff's fears to rest. Lexi seemed to have the healthiest attitude of all the vampires so far. Like Damon and Isobel she was totally comfortable with the fact that she was a vampire and craved and drank human blood with little thought about it, but unlike them did not harm humans and regard them as less than herself, nor did she feel any guilt about her existence like Stefan. It is a compromise Stefan hasn't worked out with his strict 'no human blood under any circumstances' attitude and emotional self-flagellation about the feelings and dangerous desires within him. Stefan's Diaries Stefan's Diaries: Bloodlust When Stefan first met Lexi, he said she gave off power. She owned a butcher shop and was living off animal blood. Lexi didn't agree with Stefan dating Callie. She had three companions, Percy, Buxton, and Hugo, all three of whom were vampires. When teaching Stefan how to behave in public and not draw attention to himself while compelling in a Union bar, she compelled the band to stop playing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and to play "God Save the South" instead. She had a younger brother who was killed in a fire meant for her. In the books, she is said to be more like Stefan's mother and very maternal towards him. She was well respected by Hugo, Buxton, and Percy. Lexi made Stefan drink goat blood at one point. Stefan's Diaries: The Craving Lexi is mentioned by Stefan throughout this book and she finally appears rescuing Stefan and Damon from jail after they were arrested for the murder of the Sutherland family. Damon leaves Stefan and Lexi so the two decide to have a drink while Stefan catches her up on recent events. Lexi decides to help Stefan find the Sutherlands' murderer but she is captured by the murderer (Lucius). Stefan tracks Lexi down to a church where she is tied to an altar with vervain ropes and almost in danger of being exposed to sunlight. Stefan frees her and gives his lapis lazuli ring to her to escape. She does so but Lucius catches up with Lexi and traps her with Stefan in a tomb. Luckily, Damon arrives and rescues them while Lucius is being inflicted with pain by the witch Margaret. The three escape from Lucius on a ship where they sail on before parting ways. Appearances Season 1 *''162 Candles'' (Death) Season 2 *''The Dinner Party'' (Flashback) Season 3 *''Ghost World'' (Corporeal Ghost) Season 4 *''We’ll Always Have Bourbon Street'' (Flashback) *''Because the Night'' (Flashback) *''The Walking Dead'' (Corporeal Ghost) *''Graduation'' (Corporeal Ghost) Season 5 * Home (Ghost) Season 6 * Do You Remember the First Time? (Mentioned) Name *'Alexia' is a feminine first name and the female form of Alexis, a unisex name Αλεξις ''a Greek name meaning "''defender" or "helper". The name fits Lexi because she did both defend and help Stefan, especially during his times of trouble as a vampire. *'Branson' is of English origin and means "son of the raven". Trivia * Even though she is not a main character, she has a big fanbase. * Lexi was the first vampire on the series to be introduced and killed in the same episode. * Arielle Kebbel, her actor, is the host of the Vampire Diaries Rehash. * Lexi is also the first old vampire of the series to be shown not in possession of a daylight ring. * Before the appearance of Pearl and her daughter Anna, Lexi was the oldest vampire shown. * She has appeared once throughout the first four seasons, undead, in flashbacks and as a ghost. Except, in season 4 she appears four times. * Lexi has never met Vicki Donovan, Katherine, Matt, Jenna, or Klaus. * Lexi is the maker (of personality) of Stefan, as Sage was with Damon. ** Lexi is the creator of Stefan's personality and was staked by Damon. ** Lexi is considered as a benevolent version of Sage. * Lexi helped make Stefan who he is, just like Sage helped make Damon who he is as a vampire. * Lexi shares some similarities in personality, values and morals with her close friend Rose-Marie. Both have a regard for human life and don't like killing, unless it's for self defense. * Lexi tried to set Rose up with Stefan, but Rose said that Stefan was one of the "good ones" and that she always had a thing for the "bad boys" instead. * Lexi wants to help her friend Stefan to accept his humanity and Rose shows Damon that no matter what he does, he'll always have his human side. * Lexi shares some similarities with Trevor. ** Both characters were introduced in the 8th episode of their inaugural season. ** Both were killed in that same episode marking their only appearance in present time. ** They are both the first male and female character to return after being killed off. * Lexi is the 3rd character to make an appearance in an episode after being killed with Trevor and Mason Lockwood being the 1st and 2nd characters to do so respectively. ** Lexi is the 1st female character to return after being killed. ** Lexi is also the 1st character killed in Season One to return in Season Two. * Lexi and Stefan became friends by Stefan attempting to hunt her and feed on her in 1864. * Lexi is a supporter of Stelena. * Lexi had a younger brother (in the book; Stefan's Diaries) who was killed when the villagers were suspicious since Lexi never grew older. They set her cottage on fire, trying to kill Lexi but she escaped. Her brother didn't; he was only 16 years old. * Lexi was changed into a vampire by a man she met who asked her if she wanted to live forever so she could take care of her brother since her parents had died. * Lexi is one of the characters that has appeared the most after confirmed death through flashbacks, mentions and as a ghost. ** She is also the most mentioned character after being killed off. She has been mentioned more than five times, a record for any deceased character on the series. * She's currently the only vampire who despite being killed in Season 1, appeared in every season, though her Season 2 appearances were only flashbacks, Season 3 as a ghost in Season 3 and in Season 4 as both a Ghost and in Flashbacks. It seems like this is a special tradition. ** She's the only recurring character that has appeared at least in one episode of every season of the whole series so far. * Stefan once told Caroline that she reminds him of Lexi. Many fans consider Caroline during season 2, 3 and 4 to be the "new" Lexi. * Lexi ships Steroline. * After a fight with Markos, Lexi found peace, therefore escaping the collapse of the Other Side. * Lexi was mentioned by Damon and Stefan in Black Hole Sun. * She is also the only guest star to appear in all Five Seasons, except Season Six. Tropes *Lexi was introduced as "that new guy? remember that new guy? " - she has been Stefan's best friend for over a century, but he had never mentioned her... *We hardly had time to get to know her before she was killed off for real. *She was a Sacrificial Lamb - her character was created to be killed on a plot twist to demonstrate that Anyone Can Die . *That makes her death a Death in the Limelight - when the plot suddenly focus on one character, just to kill them in the same episode. *Although she is Deader than Dead, she did come back from the Dead - as a Ghost in Ghost World ''and ''Graduation (Episode). *The trope Forgotten Fallen Friend (when the dead are never mentioned again as they never existed) is averted. She is mentioned often by characters. 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